


Gifts

by EvilMuffins



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Kakusei | Fire Emblem: Awakening
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-20
Packaged: 2020-11-26 00:41:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20921336
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EvilMuffins/pseuds/EvilMuffins
Summary: “I guess you’re right.” Ricken felt a fond smile tug across his lips as he turned to watch Henry—eyes typically so carefree--now intent on the road before them. Every now and then, he did have a good idea, after all.  While it was sometimes easy to become frustrated with Henry, there were moments like this too, when he and Ricken would just ride around the Ylissan countryside, stopping at whatever kitschy gift shop or single-room theme museum, smaller than their apartment, they came across.---Henry and Ricken embark on a quest to find a special someone the perfect gift.





	Gifts

**Author's Note:**

> My piece for the FEA modern AU zine. This was written almost exactly one year ago, so I'm sure there are things I would do differently now, but I hope you can enjoy it either way!

Although Ricken hadn’t _seen _any signs announcing anything along the lines of ‘you break it, you buy it’ posted up on their way into the shop, somehow allowing his boyfriend to do as he pleased with the ceramic figurines still seemed ill-advised.

Delicate glass wings darted in and out from between the shelves**, **which were packed with other collectibles similarly prone to shattering into a million tiny pieces when met with hard flooring.

“_Henry, cut it out!”_ Ricken hissed, trotting along beneath the airborne pegasus figure, hat held out in the hopes of catching it, all the while painfully aware that he must look just like a child chasing butterflies.

“But we have to make sure that it works, silly!” Henry explained in mock exasperation, as if anyone’s first notion upon spotting expensive collectibles would be to hex them into launching upward. “While I think it would be a hoot if its teeny-weeny legs popped off, Sumia miiiight not think it was so funny. Just a hunch.”

While it was true that animation hexes could sometimes cause undesired side-effects in the object, it was still generally considered polite to wait until one actually paid for the item before testing it out.

With a wave of his hand, Henry sent the fragile figure plummeting from the air, and just barely into the safety of Ricken’s newsboy cap. Scooping it out and cradling it in his hand, Ricken made to hurry for the check out, until Henry snatched the hat away from him. The light from the fluorescent bulbs seemingly extinguished as Henry deposited the cap back onto Ricken’s head, pulling the bill down as far over his eyes as it would go.

“You keep wearing this thing everywhere,” Henry snickered as Ricken readjusted the cap with a sigh, “people are going to start thinking that you’re a HAT-erosexual.”

Ricken’s groan was lost beneath the sound of a familiar voice from the next aisle over.

“Henry?”

“Sumia!” Henry chirped**, **as their next-door neighbor rounded the row of shelves.

_She’s more than just your neighbor now_, Ricken reminded himself, face warming.

“What are you boys doing here?” she asked, adjusting the massive stuffed toy squashed in her arms. “I thought today was your day to volunteer at the animal shelter, Henry.”

“Oh, the cats are fine and dandy,” Henry explained cheerfully as Ricken frantically attempted to hide the glass pegasus behind his back without Sumia noticing. “I put on one of those fish videos people record especially for cats! They have a ton of them over on YlisseTube.”

_Did he… just leave his SkyPad at the shelter?_ Ricken wondered, appalled at Henry’s carelessness. Thinking back, he hadn’t seen Henry use it since dropping back by their apartment to pick Ricken up.

“That’s right!” Sumia gasped softly, tucking the plush doll under one arm, in order to pull her phone from her purse and scroll through the cracked screen intently, brows furrowed. “The new episode of Your Tiny Pegasus was supposed to be uploaded this morning...”

Ricken couldn’t help himself from speaking up. “Is that the show the plush is from?”

Henry snickered. “I thought you said you were too grown up for cartoons, Ricken.”

Ricken felt the warmth prickling at his cheeks more urgently now. “Some of the guys in one of my classes watch it…” He muttered. Thankfully**, **Sumia was too involved with her phone to take notice of Ricken’s odd pose, both arms folded uncomfortably behind his back.

“Well,” Sumia said, slipping the phone back into her bag. “I’m taking Twilight Sprinkle here over to the check out, so I can run home and curl up with my show. I’ll see you boys at home later tonight!”

As Sumia turned in search of the check out, Ricken prepared to heave a sigh of relief, only to have it knocked out of him in a strangled shout as Sumia came careening backward into him. 

The two landed in an unceremonious heap, completely uncushioned by the plush pegasus, which had been launched in Henry’s general direction, narrowly missing the entirety of the glass figurine display.

The figure Ricken had been holding, however, was not nearly so lucky, as evidenced by the stabbing pain needling at his palms.

“Ooh cool! Do that again!” Henry hooted, although his accompanying gesture was much more good-natured, reaching down both hands in order to hoist both of his partners up.

“Ricken, your hands!” Sumia gasped after she had finished re-tying her errant shoelace, looking back up to see angry cuts decorating Ricken’s palms. Plunging a hand back into her bag, she emerged with a tiny plastic bottle. “Here, let me dab a little Hand Vulnerary on it for you! I am so sorry…”

Blinking at his own palms- having just held onto Ricken’s bloodied ones- Henry rubbed them over the front his jeans, frowning as he discovered the fabric too dark to stain.

Obediently, Ricken offered his stinging palms, made to smart even more once the cool liquid made contact. At least it smelled nice, he thought, rubbing it in. Shower and Soul must have gotten in their winter scent collection. Sumia always smelled pretty, something vaguely floral, although neither he nor Henry could ever put a name to the exact flower. Although it was a likely a mix, an entire bouquet’s worth, seeing as Sumia worked part-time at the florist down on the corner. Her apartment across the hall from Henry and Ricken’s- what corners weren’t crammed with stuffed dolls and other fantasy creature memorabilia- was always filled with a confetti of petals, ones slightly wilted that would have been tossed away at day’s end otherwise. She felt sorry for them, Henry had said, and they felt sorry for her in turn. As if Henry could speak with the flowers, Ricken had snorted derisively at the notion, although with the way the mage had around animals, Ricken was led to wonder…

After parting ways with Sumia- although not without a multitude of admittedly pitiful excuses as to what exactly it was that had smashed to bits during the collision- the two mages soon made their own way to the register.

“We could just hex it back together again,” Henry suggested a second time, far too loudly for comfort**, **as Ricken rang the bell on the counter. “I mean, sure it would fall back apart by tomorrow morning, but--”

“_Yeeess?”_ A voice drawled from the back room, accompanied by the jangle of bracelets as a slender hand drew back the curtain, allowing a tall woman, hair as black as Henry’s favorite birds, to take her place behind the register. “May I help you?”

“We… We uh,” Ricken suddenly found himself wishing that he’d brought along some water in his backpack, instead opting for a large notebook. The girl’s narrowed eyes, dark bags settled underneath, made the back of Ricken’s neck prickle. One glance over at Henry, however, seemed to find him unaffected by the cashier’s gloomy countenance, as his cheerful smile failed to budge.

“My boyfriend here smashed your merchandise into itty-bitty, teeny-weeny little bits! Oh, and he might have left some of his blood splattered on the floor in aisle five… It’s a definite improvement to your décor in here, though!”

In demonstration, Henry held out his hand, containing a tissue littered with the few larger shards they had been able to find.

“Uh-huh,” the cashier replied**, **after the briefest of glances at the mess, and for one wonderful moment, Ricken thought that they were off the hook. “You know, if this keeps up three times in a row, the boss gave me permission to hex the door in order to keep people like you from coming back.”

“Oh cool! So does it, like, burn us to cinders on the spot?” Henry asked, bouncing on his toes.

“Turns your clothes green,” she replied tersely, keying something into the register, ignoring Henry’s impressive pout. “That’ll be $27.50.”

With a sigh of defeat, Ricken reached into the pocket of his hoodie, pulling out his wallet.

Once the mage had passed one glowing hand across the bills, verifying their authenticity, Henry and Ricken were free to go.

“You know,” Henry said, sliding behind the wheel of his car and turning the key, “I liked her much better than that pushy red-head they had on last week…”

Despite the cool November breeze outside, the sun had still shown bright on the parking lot, heating up the vehicle’s interior while they shopped. As Henry pulled out onto the road, Ricken rolled down his window in search of fresh air. “Our girlfriend’s birthday is tomorrow, Henry, and we don’t have a single thing for her.”

“Hmm,” Henry hummed, “How about we just ride around for a bit and see what happens?”

“I guess you’re right.” Ricken felt a fond smile tug across his lips as he turned to watch Henry**—**eyes typically so carefree--now intent on the road before them. Every now and then, he did have a good idea, after all. While it was sometimes easy to become frustrated with Henry, there were moments like this too, when he and Ricken would just ride around the Ylissan countryside, stopping at whatever kitschy gift shop or single-room theme museum, smaller than their apartment, they came across.

“Yup!” Henry agreed readily. “If we get ourselves into a horrific car crash along the way, we won’t have to pick out a gift at all!”

Ricken lost track of time as Henry rode around town, excitedly pointing out any and all Christmas decorations, despite the fact that they had already begun to pop up earlier in the month. They didn’t really have Christmas back in Plegia, Henry had explained back when they had first met- Ylisse was much more fun of a place.

“Henry!” Ricken spoke up suddenly, sitting up in his seat. “Stop here.”

Pulling over, Henry nodded, following Ricken’s pointed glance out toward the park.

* * *

“I’m sorry,” Sumia gasped for breath, dismounting from her bicycle, sticker-adorned helmet tucked under one arm. “Did I keep you waiting long? I slipped in a puddle on my way back out of the building and-“

“Not at all,” Ricken assured her, shutting his notebook and standing from the bench. “You gave me just enough time to get some writing done.”

Henry joined him, resting a casual arm across Ricken’s shoulders. “Letters home to his mommy, he means.”

“Hey…”

Sumia stifled a giggle, cheeks made rosy from the November breeze. “What was it you two wanted to show me?”

“Right this way!” Henry said, dislodging himself from Ricken and instead placing his hands directly in front of Sumia’s face, thumb nearly jamming up her nose. 

“Here we go.” Rolling his eyes at Henry, Ricken took Sumia’s hand, helping to lead her along the path.

“The carousel?” Sumia asked in confusion, looking from one mage to the other as Henry uncovered her eyes.

“Remember my pal Gaius?” he asked proudly, as if being buddies with a former-shoplifter was an accomplishment.

Sumia frowned. “The one who always calls me ‘Stumbles’?”

“That’s the guy!”

“He works the carousel here,” Ricken added.

“We bribed him with a bag of fun-size Twix to let us have it for a ‘_spell’.” _Henry winked, ushering Sumia in through the gate and up onto a gaudily painted horse. “Comfy?”

Sumia nodded, equal parts apprehension and anticipation sparkling in her eyes as she grasped the golden pole.

“Ready?” Ricken asked, turning to Henry.

In unison, they spoke the incantation. Before the final words could even be uttered, the artificial horse began to rock, freeing itself from the confines of the kiddy-ride, and taking flight.

“Oh- Oh gosh! Whoa!” Sumia’s nervous laughter soon grew into peals of joy, ringing out as she floated above the mages’ heads.

Long hair flowing in streams, Sumia began to relax, loosening her grip on the pole in order to brush it back from her face.

_She belongs up there_, Ricken thought to himself. While he had never been entirely certain as to why he had been born with the gift of magic, if it could make the people he loved this happy, he would continue to work hard and improve his skill, no matter what.


End file.
